Michael Family of Boveedy and Kilrea

This Thomas Michael looks to be about the right age to be Robert’s brother:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Londonderry/Hervey_Hill/Bovedy/591581/

Here’s a Tommy Kinney married to a Sarah Michael. (Sally is a diminutive for Sarah). So that fits with the information given in the letter, where Tommy Kinney is described as Sally’s man.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Londonderry/Swatragh/Gorteade/611823/

Thomas Kinny and Sarah Michael were married on 4.4.1876 (She’s on GRONI as Michel). Probably worth viewing her marriage cert to get her father’s name etc.

Their daughter Annie Mary was born at Gorteade on 10.3.1879.

Regarding burial records for Presbyterian churches, in general they don’t keep them though there are exceptions. Have you written to the Ministers of the churches you are interested in? The gravestones have been transcribed. There’s several Michaels in Kilrea 1st graveyard:

http://genealogy.torrens.org/BannValley/church/KilreaP1/graveyard.html

Thank you so much for the information. The grave inscriptions from the 1st Presbyterian Church in Kilrea helped me to connect some of the familes. I found Sarah Michael and Thomas Kinney in the index for 1876 Marriages on microfilm this afternoon. I only had a little time to search. Is the only access to that record through GRONI? I will contact the other churches in the area that have cemeteries attached to see what they have in way of transcriptions.

Do you happen to have any information on whether there are still any Michael family members in the area of Kilrea and Tamlaght O'Crilly. I've noticed that some of them seemed to have left Ireland for Australia and New Zealand as well as America. 

Thank you again for your help.

 

 

You can order a photocopy of the 1876 marriage from GRO Roscommon for €4 (euros). It usually takes 3 weeks or so to come. Or you can view it immediately on-line for £2.50 (sterling), so that always strikes me as the best option being quicker and cheaper. It is not available free on the irishgenealogy site yet.

The wording of that letter suggest to me that Sally (ie Sarah) is probably a sister or very close relation to the letter writer.

The Ulster Historical Foundation has quite a few gravestones on its website. You can check graveyard by graveyard. There’s a fee to view each transcription though.

The current phone book for that area (postcode BT51) lists 7 people in the general area. 5 of them are ex-directory but their addresses are viewable (for a fee) so you could write to them.

 

http://www.ukphonebook.com

 

Thank you for the additional information. I appreciate the advice to get the online look for quicker and cheaper. Will follow up on the phone numbers. The ukphonebook was a great piece of additional information. Thank you for all of your help.

Attached Files

I too am searching for the Michel/Michael family.  My Great Grandmother was Mary Hunter, I have conflicting information regarding her parents. She is either Mary Sarah Hunter born1868 or her neice Mary Hunter, daughter of John Hunter and Jane Michel/Michael, born 1873. She married Thomas Graham of Garvagh in 1898. Census information in 1901 and 1911 makes her birthdate 1873.  There are letters to Australia from Mary Michael to her brother John Hunter. There is a photo of her taken in 1921 below.  Regards, Colleen.

 

 

The 1898 marriage certificate tells us that her father was William Hunter, a farmer, that she lived in Bovedy and married in Garvagh 1st Presbyterian church.

This may be her parents in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Londonderry/Hervey_Hill/Bovedy/1520503/

He was the only William Hunter in Bovedy at that time. He died 29.4.1910 at Bovedy and his son Joseph was the informant. This is Joseph in 1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Londonderry/Hervey_Hill/Bovedy/591566/

Griffiths Valuation for 1858 lists William Hunter farming in Bovedy so the family appear to have been settled there for many years. I searched the birth records for David, Joseph & Mary born 1864 – 1884 but did not find any of them. I searched the records with no forename but they are not there either.  That suggest perhaps the births weren’t registered. In which case you might want to search for baptism records. Garvagh 1st records are in PRONI but you would need to get a researcher to look them up for you.

 

Elwyn - I was wondering if you were able to identify your Great Grandfather Robert Michael's family?  I also have a Great Grandfather, John Michael, who appears to be from the Kilrea area as well.  DNA cousin clues have brought me there but I have not been able to identify via documents.  I have a number of DNA cousins in that area, including someone fairly distant lievel who claims a Robert Michael who lived in Cass Illinois and was born 1838 in Kilrea.  Sounds like your Great Grandfather..  This cousin also relates to another Michael cousin, Keith Michael from same area.  I have not been able to determine exactly how we connect in that Michael clan.  The DNA cousin who lists Robert shows his father as a John Alex Michael.  Is that what you came up with?

 

Pdbm,

I am not connected to the Michael family. I am a volunteer for Ireland Reaching Out. My knowledge of the families is limited to what I can find through on-line sources (though I don’t live very far from Kilrea and Gorteade and do know the area).

Statutory birth registration (Vital records) only began in Ireland in 1864 so for someone born before that, you need to search the church records for their baptism. Kilrea 1st Presbyterian’s start in 1825, Kilrea 2nd in 1840 and Boveedy 1841. There’s copies of all 3 in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. You probably need to get someone to search those for your families. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

 

Thank you for responding and sharing more into about how/where to find records.  I see now from the trail that lrnimer was the person posting for his Michael relative.  Coincidentally I just noticed a dna cousin with similar username on my ancestry account so looks like I am related to him/her.

I will take a further look at what I can find via the sources that you have suggested. Presbyterian records are new to me as most of my lines have been Catholic up to this point and I had been looking in the wrong church records for him. Dna clues have been very helpful for this line to bring me back to the right area.. A bit of a surpise to find that Michaels were Presbyterian and came from Scotland apparently.  My Presbyterian met and married my Catholic Hughes line in NYC.  Not sure it would have happened in Ireland at that time.  I like to think love conquors all.

From what I see civil records are all shown as indexes and in order to determine if it is your relative you need to order/pay for the entire record.  I take it that is true for researchers as well - they only see the index and try to narrow down which are mostly likely possibilities?

Thank you again.

Pat

 

 

Pat,

Regarding a Presbyterian marrying a Roman Catholic in Ireland, it wasn’t all that rare. It did cause some difficulties within some families – and was sometimes an additional reason for emigrating – but such marriages are easy enough to spot. They often married in a Register Office, to overcome the difficulty of the different denominations, and sometimes the children were brought up in 2 different denominations i.e. the sons under the father’s denomination and the daughters under the mother’s. You can easily see families like that in the 1901 & 1911 censuses.

Most statutory (Vital) birth, death and marriage records from 1864 onwards (and 1845 in the case of non RC marriages) are viewable free on this site:

https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/

The main exceptions are deaths 1864 to 1877, and records from 1922 onwards for Northern Ireland all of which you need to pay to view. £2.50 a time on the GRONI site. Yes a researcher has to pay the same fee as anyone else to view those records.

For records before that, eg the Kilrea baptism records I suggested, they have been copied and placed on microfilm in PRONI. The records themselves are free to view, and can be transcribed at no cost or photocopied at 30 pence a page. So if researching those you would only really be paying for a researchers time. There’s no fee to view them.

Elwyn,

Thank you for the information. I will look into the sites you suggested and when I have enough understanding will engage a researcher to obtain the records.  I have made contact with the originator of this discussion. He is a distant dna cousin to me and we are going to talk.  I find collaboration very helpful.  This has been a brickwall for a long time and I have to continue on both sides of the Atlantic to get this solved.  

 

Thanks again,

Pat

Good Afternoon from Scotland. James Michael is my Great, Great Great Grandfather one of his sons also James moved to Scotland and worked with the Glasgow and South Western railway at Johnstone Railway Station. I actually have a "photo" of James Michael Snr a cameo dated 1832......

So good to hear from another Michael descendent. My great grandfather, Robert Michael, is the one born around 1838 near Kilrea. He immigrated to the US by 1860 and finally found his way to Illinois by the late 1860s where he married and had a family. I would love to hear more about your Michael line. In the research that I have done, I have found that there are a lot of common first names for the Michaels -- James, John, Alexander, Robert, Thomas, and William to name a few. I did find one line that did go to Scotland but would have to look again to see if it was a James or not. Would you be willing to share information as well as a copy of your cameo of James Michael Sr. from 1832. I hope to hear from you again soon.

So good to hear from another Michael descendent. My great grandfather, Robert Michael, is the one born around 1838 near Kilrea. He immigrated to the US by 1860 and finally found his way to Illinois by the late 1860s where he married and had a family. I would love to hear more about your Michael line. In the research that I have done, I have found that there are a lot of common first names for the Michaels -- James, John, Alexander, Robert, Thomas, and William to name a few. I did find one line that did go to Scotland but would have to look again to see if it was a James or not. Would you be willing to share information as well as a copy of your cameo of James Michael Sr. from 1832. I hope to hear from you again soon.

H Irnimer.....I would be more than willing to share my Info. Quick question just out of interest, are you in the US?. It was definitely a James that went to Scotland because my Grandfather mentioned to me many years ago that he remembers going across the water to visit his Grandfather in Boveedy / Coleraine and going for days out to Portrush. So on that basis I can confirm.. To go further my great Grandfather was called.........James........my grandfather was also called James. and now my middle name is James......Woww. In order that I may help you further I would like to send you a copy of my family tree. but I do not know how to post it on here. maybe you can do that after I have sent it to you directly if you would be so kind as to give me an email address. Thank you in advance Doug I use my company email address UZengineering@yahoo.com

I thought that I had responded to your post the day it came in, but I can't seem to find a copy of it in my Sent box. I am so sorry for the delay. I will send my email to you immediately upon finishing this post. Thank you for being so willing to share your family tree. Most of the information that I have on the Michael family from the Boveedy/Kilrea area is entered in FamilySearch.org. It is a community tree so everyone can add to it. Your post is generating interest as I had another Michael descendant correspond to me about your comments.

Hi Irnimer You have indeed replied no apologies are required. Please feel free to let other descendants contact me DougEngineer

I will share your email with P. Marinelli who also descends through a James Michael from the Boveedy/Kilrea area. Thanks for the offer.